


Settling Dust

by miss_nettles_wife



Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, Backstory, Gen, Head Injury, Injured Character, Lightsabers, Team Bonding, amputee character, blink and youll miss it character death, starwars lore, third person perspective
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-13
Updated: 2017-04-13
Packaged: 2018-10-18 06:23:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10611075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miss_nettles_wife/pseuds/miss_nettles_wife
Summary: Korriban is an abandoned rock in the middle of space, filled with nothing more than creatures intent on eating them and Darkside ghosts. Just Jason's luck that they'd end up here





	

**Author's Note:**

> for the purpose of transparency, I've never seen any of the power rangers shows, or movies outside of the one released this year. I didn't grow up with it or nothin'. But every fandom needs a good starwars au and im here to provide you with one.

Oh Korriban, how you never change.  The planet is hot as All Hell, and the dust sticks to his skin and clothes. Jason hates it. Always has. But it’s the perfect place for Sith, right?

“Can you fix it?” Kimberly. Her Cousanti accent is unmistakable. Slowly, Jason opens his eyes and is greeted by the flickering red and blue lights of his controls. They won’t come into focus no matter how much he strains his eyes.  He’d known they were going to be making a hasty landing on the surface thanks to a damaged hyperdrive, but he hadn’t failed so dismally? Had he?

Before he has a chance to bother with it, an arm around his shoulders helps him to unstick his face from the console.

“Nice landing.” He recognizes the voice as Zack. His vocal chords refuse to produce more than a soft moan in reply. His head is pounding furiously. He felt an arm make its way under his chest and pull him up, unsticking his face from the console so he could see again. The world is little more than a collection of swirls in front of his face, as he is moved onto his weak legs, and the pair of them stumbled (mostly Jason) towards the medical bay.

The medical bay, as it was called was little more than a small room with a cargo cylinder and a bunk. Jason’s legs gave way as the bunk came into his line of sight. They don’t really have any sort of healers among them, so all Zack could do for him was stick a large bacta patch over the side of his face that was banged up. At least, that’s what Jason presumes he does. He’s not certain what happens next because he passes out. Again.

…

He feels marginally better when he wakes up, thanks to the bacta. Better enough to wander to the main room where everyone has gathered around a large holo of Korriban’s surface. Billy notices him first, looking up from what Jason recently learned was actually a homemade lightsaber. Trini notices next, followed by Zack and finally Kimberly.

“Should you be up?” Trini breaks the forming silence with an obvious question. No. He should not be up. Jason is well convinced that he should be in bed for the next few standard days at least. But he has little choice in the matter.

“You should lie down.” Billy agreed, setting his mini hydro spanner down.

“No.” He replied, “We need to get out of here.” Zack reaches him just as his bad leg threatens to give out on him and sits him firmly on one of the many uncomfortable seats the ‘Rat has to offer. The ‘Rat being short for Ball of Rats, which is the name of his ship. He didn’t name it. It was second hand, like the ship itself.

Once seated, and after a moment for the blood pulsing in his head to find a use elsewhere, he looks around the group.

“What happened?” They all look at one another. Kimberly speaks up.

“The hyperdrive is shot.”

“Obviously.”

“You took a shot at the back.” Trini says, “And you spun out. You had to crash land up here.”

“Right.” He muttered. “Korriban.” He looked at the holo, which despite it’s muted blue tones, hurt his head.

“No one’s been here for years.” Trini pointed out; she would know. Trini was born to a family that transported cargo and had seen parts of the universe most of them had only dreamed of. If someone knew how to find the history of places, it would be her.

“I need parts to fix the hyperdrive.” Billy stated, not looking up from his work, “Parts that we don’t have.”

“Is there a settlement on the surface?” He asked, trying to conjure up what he’d learned about Korriban in his Jedi days. Kimberly shrugged. Zack doesn’t know. Trini nods.

“Dreshdae.” She said, “The old settlement on the surface Czerka used it as a base before the planet was ruined.”

“How do we get to ‘Dresh-dae’?” Kimberly asked, as Trini rotated the map and zoomed up on the part of the planet she was speaking of.

“Well, the way that you used to get you there, from here was from the academy, which is mostly caved in at the moment.”

 “Sounds like you have a but.” Zack said, with a raised eyebrow.

“I do. If we follow through the third left tomb, some raiders who were here before up apparently dug out a tunnel to the Dreshdae.”

“Wouldn’t they have raided the settlement?” Billy asked.

“I don’t think so. Not according to these records.”

“Where did you get those anyway?” Kimberly asked,

“I have sources.” Trini replied, obviously not going to divulge any more information.  They all exchanged looks, except for Billy, who hadn’t looked up, face crinkled in concentration.

“So we’re going to the surface.” Jason says, finally.

“You’re not going anywhere.” Kimberly warns, standing up.

“This planet is crawling with Tennterack,  Hississ, and Sith ghosts.” That got Billy’s attention.

“Sith ghosts?”

“Sith don’t become one with the Force when they die. My best guess is that they won’t take kindly to us poking around in their tombs.”

“You got that right.” Trini said, flicking someone on her datapad. “People reporting all sorts of spooky stuff happening around here.”

“How many people come here?” Zack asked, finally.

“Not many. The ghosts scare them off.” She admitted. Jason grabbed his vest from the back of the chair and slowly tugged it around his shoulders. His blaster holster knocked against his thigh. Kimberly sighed. Zack looks annoyed, but they both know that their only way off this planet is with his help navigating the endless mazes where the Sith buried their dead.

…

Crossing the dig site to the opening of the tomb was easier than Jason had expected. Sure, they’d come face to face with a snarling beast known as a Tennterak, but they hadn’t seen any ghosts. But he knew better than to get his hopes up about this being anything less than life-threatening. That sort of thing didn’t happen to him.

Entering the tomb was a matter of brute strength and unlocking the stone seal. The huge door creaked open and they all slid inside careful not to disrupt the dust. It was worse inside the tomb, dark as anything and smelt faintly of something rotten. Using the light on the front of her datapad, Trini illuminated the room as best she could. The faint blue glow does nothing but makes the area that more unsettling.

As much as he disliked robes, Jason cant help but feel like one would be appropriate at the moment. He feels like a disembodied spirit as the five of them wandered the halls of the mostly ruined tomb. His knowledge of Korriban was spotty at best. He knew only what the Jedi had designed to teach him. The Sith homeworld. Death and destruction littered the top half of the world. The world had a strong call in the Force, but it was the call of the dark, and it was a call of death. Part of him wished that he was still connected to the force, he’d like to feel this place, actually feel it, not just the soft touches of energy that brushed up against his mind on occasion, reminding him what he’d had once.

He’s not the only person to lose something, but it’s hard to keep that in perspective sometimes. He tries not to get caught up in his own sadness, but that too can be difficult. Billy lost a parent, something that must hurt more than the Force. Zack had to leave his mother on Dantooine.  Kimberly had been practically cast out by her people and left to free fall. Trini…Trini chose to leave, but he knows it hurts her as well. All these people lost their families. Jason lost the Force.  It doesn’t seem like the same thing. They wouldn’t understand the same way he wouldn’t understand losing a parent.  It’s hard to understand what you’ve never been through.

The further they get into the tomb, the more unsettled Jason feels. He hasn’t been a Jedi for years, but he can still sense situations that put him in danger. Behind him, the others are talking, but he’s not really listening. What he’s learned, living the life of a spacer, is don’t get attached. People come and go.  The only constant he’s used to is the ‘Rat, and right now he doesn’t even have that.

 

“Jason?”

“Hm?” He hasn’t been paying attention to the conversation. Kimberly is looking at him with a funny look.

“Billy asked if you’ve got a family?” The confusion must show on his face because Billy looks concerned.

“You don’t have to answer, but you know everything about us and all we know about you is that you used to be a Jedi. You have to have a story. Everyone does. If we’re going to be on the run together don’t you want to share it?” He doesn’t want to share his story because it’s not interesting.

“Jedi don’t have a family.” He said, “Or attachments.”

“We know that.” Zack butted in, “But do you remember your parents?”

“I come from a world that’s main export is fish, so I guess at least one of them worked in the fishing industry.” He said, using his hand to feel along the dips and curves of the wall. His head still hurts and his legs ache under simply supporting his weight. The others seem to leave him alone for a moment so he can regain his balance. He gives in. “I only really remember my dad.” Billy perks up at the mention of a dad.

“You’ve got a Dad?”

“Somewhere.” He replies, “I remember that I didn’t want to go with the Jedi and leave him.”

“He didn’t try and keep you?” Kimberly, soft.

“I doubt he could control me.” He scoffed, “The Jedi would have made him, one way or another. It’s how they work.” They fall into silence after that. And it’s just how he likes it.

Eventually, it’s Kimberly who breaks the silence.

“Why leave the order? Most of us didn’t have a choice, we had to leave our families.”

“I became a padawan at a time of galactic turmoil. Most Jedi were fighting, be it with Revan, or leaving for the Sith. I was meant to be trained as a guardian, but with no masters…” He shrugged, “I was too much, I suppose. I failed.” Pause, “And I made a mistake. Of course, after that little outburst, it was decided I was too violent for the Jedio and they sent me on my merry way.”

“So that’s it, then?”

“That’s it.”

“Turn right up here.” Trini says, but Jason reacts just in time to throw his arm out. He lept in front of her, arm out, faintly aware of something ripping but not paying attention.  She collides with it, but before she can turn to hurl abuse at him, she looks down. It’s a steep drop into an abyss of nothing. Her hands grab his arm a moment later, realizing just how close she came to falling. Jason hadn’t even had time to really think about the gaping maw, didn’t even think to notice it, just that the floor wasn’t there and Trini would fall other wise.

She looked at him, then stepped backward. Jason went back as well. They both took a couple of deep breaths. Jason looked at the others. Billy looks alarmed. Zack looks frightened. Kimberly has a hand over her mouth, and is breathing heavily in the darkness. How close death is, he thought, as the ushered Trini forward towards the other end of the cavern. It seemed like there was another way.

“My datapad says we had to turn there.” She whispered, backing against a wall and sliding to the ground. Jason has to sit as well. His head aches. The others are all looking at them.  
“What?” He asks, finally.  
“Is that real?” Jason looked down. His leggings were torn entirely up the left side, revealing that tucked into his boot, is his leg. It’s not a leg made of skin, but instead of metal. He studied Billy and then nodded.  
“Yeah.” At least they have the decency not to pry as to where he got it. He doesn’t have a syntho-skin covering for it anymore. It wore out and he never bothered to replace it. No one really saw it and he’d adapted to using it just fine. Eventually, they break their eyes away from him and Trini to look at the passage.

“We could go down there?” Billy offers, looking down the dark hallway to their left. The path is desolate and possibly scarier than the one they were already on.

“We could go back to the ship and wait for help?” Zack offers.

“And lead Rita right to us? I don’t think so.”  Trini spat.

“And the alternative is starving to death on the ship?” Zack demanded. Jason puts his head in his hands, his mind feels like slush. He is no equipped to deal with this right now. Unbidden by him, his mind swirls up a slideshow of memories of his father.

He distinctly remembers the day he went to the Jedi, mostly because of how traumatic it was, retrospectively. He remembers calling for his father in whatever the language of his home planet was before he forgot it and was forced into learning basic. He remembers the sounds of his father talking to the Jedi there to collect not only him but all the others. He watched from the window of the ship, for as long as he could, until the planet, and his father was little more than distant specks in space.

He looks up again, and sighs. The fighting was getting on his nerves if nothing else. Billy appears to be feeling the same way because he looks like he’s going to burst.

“Stop!” He yelled, loud enough for dust to rattle its way from the walls. “Enough fighting!” He yelled, for a second time. “Has it ever gotten us anywhere?” He demands, “We’re all stuck here, together. It’s not Trini’s fault that the floor is caved in, and it’s not unreasonable of Zack to want to go back to the ship.” He insisted.

“Whatever move we make, we have to make it as a team if we want to survive.” Kimberly insisted. Both Zack and Trini look suitably humiliated. At least no one is yelling.

They all look to him as if to ask what to do now.

“What do you think, Jason?” Billy asked, as Jason carefully made his way back to his feet.

“I think we take that path and see if it rejoins with the one on the other side.” He says, finally. “And if not, well, maybe we’ll see some cool things.” It’s probably not rational enough, but his head is aching and frankly, the sooner they were out of these tunnels and somewhere with better ventilation, the better. Zack nods, and offers him an arm to stand straight.

 “Do you want someone to take you back to the ship?” Kimberly asks as he releases Zack’s arm. He shook his head no.

“Like you said, every move we make, we make as a team.” Trini nods, and using her datapad as a light, headed off down to the corridor, the others following after.

For the most part, their trip down here had been pretty much trap free. Which was good. There was a time, however, where one must face a problem and it happened here, in front of a massive door. An ancient console sat in front of the door, dusty and disgusting. Trini is not off put, and turns the thing on. It lurches to life, spitting and pulsing with hot air. The thing, somehow, still works.

“I don’t know this language.” She reports, stepping away. They all glance at Zack, the only one of them to have any proficiency with the language.

“Jason come here.” He insists. “These characters look like the ones the Jedi used to use on Dantooine.” He looks them over, but doesn’t recognize them all. 

“ I guess.” He confirmed,

“It’s instructions, then. For some kind of test to open the door.” Jason must visibly shrivel at the mention of a test because they all look concerned. He looks around the group. “Any one any good at puzzles?” Billy puts his hand up, despite it not really being needed.

“I’ll translate it for you, roughly.” Zack says, “The test is to get these rings from this pillar to that pillar in descending order in six turns.”

“Can I burrow that?” He asks Trini, who passes him the datapad. Jason appreciates it, but his head aches too much for him to think much about reading right now. He isn’t sure exactly what Billy is doing, but it looks like he’s writing notes. 

Kimberly moved over to stand with him.

“You alright, Jason?”

“Hm.” Is all he can cough up in reply.

“You’re right. Stupid question.” They both watch as Zack and Billy type into the loud console. Everything feels blurry and underwater. “You might have a concussion or something.” She advises.

“Probably.” He agreed, looking to her. Kimberly glanced very concernedly.

“Can you feel it?”

“Feel what?”

“You’re a Jedi. That feeling in the Force.”

“I don’t feel the Force anymore.”

 “What? How?”

“I don’t know how. Sometimes it happens. There’s nothing to be done for it.” He told her, and she looked away. “Are you Force Sensistive?”

“I am.”

“Never trained?”

“Never told anyone.” Before they can continue, the door flashed open, suddenly.

“Got it.” Billy declared. “Jason, look. I got it.”

“Yeah.” He smiled, as they pushed themselves off the wall to enter the corridor, Trini and her datapad leading the way The deeper the got, the more unsettling it felt. His mind feels the faintest brush of the force against it. It must be powerful, then, if even he can feel it. Realistically, he knew why he lost touch with the Force. He cut himself off, after his exile. To stop feeling other people. It was the only way his mind could cope after he fled to the Unknown Regions.

They made their way slowly down the corridor. It stinks like rot and dust. He can’t help but wonder exactly who else has made it this far. Can’t be many. Walking down the passageway, he tries to breathe through his mouth to avoid smelling the death that seemed to seep from the very walls.

They only made it about six hundred standard meters before they were all nearly given a heart attack by the sudden appearance of a creature that seemed to be somewhere between an astromech droid and one of the training droids he’d seen at the academy. It begins to yell at them in a tongue he can’t even come close to speaking.

“We don’t understand.” Kimberly says, stepping forward. It tries something else that reminds him of a Wookie dialect.

“Try again.” She pleads.

“I am so glad to see you.” This one he understands. It sounds like something from Manan. Which is something he was forced to learn since Manan was the universe’s only source of Bacta.

“Why is he speaking a Manan dialogue?” Zack asks softly, knowing damn well Jason can understand. The others all seem to have a vauge understanding as they all look among one another for a reply. No one has one. It falls to Jason to reply.

“Uh, why?” He says, finally.

“It’s been so long since we had hopefuls.” It tells them, rolling off into the darkness. Jason thinks that it’s been too long since the droid had a memory wipe, but he follows along behind anyway. He trusts the others to follow.

“Hopefuls as in what? Hopeful Dark Jedi?”

“No. Hopefuls for the crystals.” He glances at the others, who all look as confused as him. He decides to humor the thing for now.

“Crystals?”

“You’ll see.”  Jason doesn’t know if a machine can sound ominous, but this one does. He leads them to a tomb. And it’s unmistakably a tomb thanks to the mummified corpse in the middle of the room on a slab. Charming.

The droid leads them to room with only a console, and five crystals set in the wall.

“If you can get them, you’re chosen.”

“If we can’t?”

“You die.” Jason’s stomach falls into his shoes very quickly.

“What?”

“Good luck!” The thing says, and trundles out, leaving the five of them in the room, stunned.

“Die?” Billy asks, softly. He sounds as nervous as Jason feels.

“Sith like setting traps.” He says, finally.

“Can you blow us out?” Trini asks Billy, turning to look at him. Zack wanders over to a nearby console.

“I can try.” He offers. Kimberly wanders to examine the crystals.

“There’s some kind of prophecy here.” Zack declares.  “Five warriors, all alike In dignity, will defeat the green evil and restore the six.”

“Green Evil could be Rita?” Trini offers.

“The six?”

“I don’t know.” Jason says, moving to stand near Kimberly.

“Do we really want to fulfill a Sith Prophecy?” She asked.

“The first Sith were Jedi, originally. Defeating is usually a Jedi Prophecy type anyway.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better.” She said. After a moment, she reached out one hand to glance along the pink surface of the gemstone. After a moment, she pressed her nails between the wall and the rock, and it comes free into her palm. A small case opens under it, revealing a very dusty lightsaber. Single blade. She offers it to him to look at. The others draw closer. He takes it from her, and promptly dropped it onto the floor.

Kimberly scrambled to pick it up, while Jason looked at the burned palm of his hand. After a second, Trini reached for the yellow gem, and looked it over. Zack grabs Black at almost the same time. While Billy grabs blue, Jason carefully takes Red into his hands.

He brings his hand to the smooth surface, and for just a second, every sense is whited out. When it comes back, it’s like he feels everything twice over. The Force is pumping in his veins. The others are all looking at their lightsabers. Two short lightsabers for Trini, a double blade for Zack and for Billy, a single blade, and one he noticed as a sholto blade.

Looking down, he saw two hilts almost identical to the one’s he’d used back in the day. Two Tonfa style hilts sat, looking at him, mockingly The perpendicular handle looks like it would fit the length of his forearm perfectly. He looked to the stone. It’s a Kyber Crystal. Organic, not synthesized. One blade is already fitted with a crystal, the other is empty. He tucked one into his belt, the protruding handle juts out from his hip. He slotted the crystal into place, and took hold of the handle like he was brandishing a baton. The others have followed his cue. He tucked the other one into his palm, keeping the blades pointed to the floor.

They ignite, blazing red. Billy’s are blue, and shining brightly. Trini’s yellow blades shine brightly in each hand. Kimberly’s pink illuminates her face. Zack is examining his black blade as closely as he dares. Behind them, the door bangs open, revealing the droid from before. Surface thoughts from the group are either about how they suspect they can feel the Force, concern for the prophecy or weirded out by the situation. He takes care not to prod or invade anyone’s private thoughts.

“I knew you would be the ones, I simply knew! Oh, Zordon will be so relieved to hear.”

“Who is Zordon? Who, for that matter, are you?” Zack.

“I am Alpha. Zordon is my master. He is yours now as well.”

“I don’t think so.” Jason says, suddenly. He’s not going to be anyone’s pupil ever again. Not some Sith Ghost who haunts this tomb, and no Jedi, either.

“Come this way.” He says, indifferent to Jason’s comment. The others go forward, so he follows behind.

Zordon is a real, life Force Ghost. He is a giant figure of a race Jason is not familiar with.

“Who are they?” He asks the droid, who can see him, despite having no Force signature Jason can detect.

“The new Power Rangers.”

“No, we aren’t.” Jason says, “I never signed up for this.”

“You did as soon as you entered here.” Zordon declares. “You are the leader now, Red.” This whole thing is just so weird. He cannot explain it. “You must stop Rita.”

“We’re on the run from Rita. Crazy bitch tried to frame up for the explosions at TSF.” Trini says, “We’re in no way equipped to deal with stopping her.” Billy, he notes, flinches at the cuss word.

“It doesn’t matter how you came to be here. Rita is a threat to the known universe, and must be stopped.”

“Who is she? Before she was a Sith Lord, I mean.” Kimberly asked.

“She had a crystal, just like you. She fell to the Darkside, as you must not. It’s very-“

“Easy to fall, blah blah, we know. How are we going to stop her?”

“You must train.” Jason’s head is throbbing again.

“Now?” Zack asks . Before any of them can reply, the roof abov the begins to shake, dust spitting down on them. Jason reaches for Billy, who is closest to him, and tries to pull him under his body to protect him from the falling stones as much as he can. He doesn't know if it protects him or not, because he very quickly can't feel anything, and the world falls into an abyss of black.

…

His eyes open only to be blinded by the med bay light. His headache is mostly gone. He’s alive. And shirtless. But alive. He stood, only to see his new lightsabers sitting on the cylinder. He ignores them and stumbles into the fresher. He looks himself up and down. No stabs or burns. Nothing to show that they had even fought.

He fell to his knees as his stomach suddenly heaves. Reaching for the Fresher, the metal crumbles under his hand. He yanks it back. His sabers are sitting on the sink. He just ruined. He tucked them into his belt (again) and stumbled to the main room.

The others are all there, looking just like him.

“We should have died.” Zack states.

“But we didn’t.” Kimberly points out.

“What is happening?” Billy asks, fingers moving to his head to rub his temple. Jason likes the feel of the Force, the pumping of thoughts, the constant of it. Like an old friend. It must be hard for Billy, he suspects. Trini is looking at her weapons. Before she can speak, Alpha rolls in, looking like he (Jason presumes it’s a he, since that was the typical pronoun given to a droid for whatever reason) belongs.

“Hi.” He says, and the droid spits out a blue holo-message of Zordon. 

“Good luck, Rangers. Report back to Alpha with your progress.”

“The hyperdrive is fixed.” Billy said, looking down the gallery into the engine room. Jason cannot speak for everyone, but he can’t wait to get off this forsaken lump of rock.

 

 

 


End file.
